Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, has approved plans to replace a bridge at Zouch, near Hathern.

Mr Grayling has confirmed the scheme drawn up by Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire County Councils to construct a new bridge over the River Soar which will carry the A6006 from Hathern to Zouch.

The existing bridge was constructed in 1930 and the council says that despite several repair schemes over recent years, it has continued to deteriorate to a state where the structure is considered to be near to the end of its useful life. Two options of where to place the new bridge were originally proposed.

One option was to demolish the bridge and build the new structure in the same place but this would mean traffic having to be significantly diverted for some time.

The second option was to purchase adjacent land and build the bridge in a slightly different place so that the A6006 could be kept open.

Leicestershire County Council submitted an application to its own planning department seeking permission to implement the second option: building a new bridge immediately south of the existing structure.

The Design and Access Statement submitted with the application stated: “The primary objective of the scheme is to replace the bridge with minimal disruption to the travelling public and without the need to implement lengthy traffic diversions and prior to any enforced weight limits or closures being required on the bridge as a result of further deterioration.

Read More

Loughborough news

“The county council has concluded that the best method of achieving the objectives was to acquire the land to the immediate south of the existing A6006 in order to construct an off-line replacement of the bridge and to construct the realigned approach roads.

“The approach carriageways will be re-aligned in order to link into the proposed replacement bridge and the carriageway width will be maintained throughout.”